Opinion | Iran-Contra scandal pardons mostly forgotten

Imagine a Republican president with an administration being investigated by a special counsel who proceeds to pardon everyone who pleaded guilty or was awaiting trial. There would be no need for the president to pardon himself because the special counsel's case would be moot.

Heads would explode in the New York-Washington corridor among Democrats and the elite media. (Pardon the redundancy.) While the president has the power under the Constitution to issue the pardons, thwarting the special counsel and effectively ending the investigation would surely lead to a political disaster of the first order.

Well, maybe not.

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President George H.W. Bush today is the affectionate darling of liberals everywhere as an example of what a president should be in contrast with crude incumbent Donald Trump. But Bush pardoned six people in the Iran-Contra scandal: One person who was convicted, three who pleaded guilty and two awaiting trial. As a result of the pardons, special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's investigation was over. He bitterly complained and made threats, but his tenure was finished.

The Iran-Contra scandal involved the Reagan administration selling arms to Iran and using the money to support anti-communist Contra forces in Nicaragua. The scheme was an end run around Congress, which had passed a law forbidding the U.S. funding the Contras.

You hear every day on cable news that if Donald Trump were to issue pardons and hamper the investigation of his administration and his election campaign it would lead to impeachment and cause a huge outcry. A political disaster. It's possible that Rachel Maddow, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough might suffer strokes on the air, but most of the American people would likely yawn. That's what happened when Bush issued his pardons. And remember that the Democrats controlled the U.S. House back then. The pardons included former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who was awaiting trial. Walsh was demanding that Weinberger turn over notes that he believed tied Bush to prior knowledge of the Iran arms deal.

Trump would not have to pardon himself any more than Bush did. You just pardon everybody the special counsel needs to make a case. Then get on with governing the country.

A couple of things have changed. The Bush era was prior to the rise of the cable news industry and the 24/7 coverage of politics. Trump is also a much more polarizing figure than Bush, despised by a large segment of the public and most of Washington.

I find it puzzling that with the daily discussions about Trump and the utter impossibility of his getting away with issuing pardons, there is no mention of Bush and Iran-Contra. That “scandal” has gone down the memory hole.

Frank Cagle is a columnist and former managing editor of the News Sentinel. He may be reached at efrankcagle@yahoo.com.